LOWELL — From dishwasher to executive chef, Doug Brackett has held every possible position inside a kitchen over the last 15 years.

With a rising number of food-employment experiences, the vision became clear for Brackett and his wife of five years, Alaina Brackett: They needed a place to provide what Doug had to offer.

Doug developed a specific talent while working at a bakery the couple lived above in Spencer. When they moved to Lowell — where Alaina grew up — they noticed a lack of places that offered homemade bread.

“Doug started baking it at home and he would have me try it,” Alaina said. “I was like, ‘This is really good.'”

Noticing the delicious treat that’s her husband’s bread, Alaina started handing out samples during the farm market at Mill No. 5. During the last three years, the couple developed a customer base.

Doug left his full-time job running the kitchen for both the Haverhill and Nashua locations of the The Peddler’s Daughter about a year ago to focus on his craft.

To get the plan baking, they took advantage of the local nonprofit Entrepreneurship for All or EforAll, which offered a free 16-week business startup accelerator course. While looking for a space to set up shop, they worked with another nonprofit, Lowell Plan Inc., which offers loans to businesses looking to startup downtown.

They then opened up Purple Carrot Bread Co., which offers customers European-style hearth bread, according to Aliana. The restaurant is closing in on a month of operation within its storefront in downtown Lowell.

“We like Lowell and we wanted to have nice things available here,” Doug said about the decision to pursue a cafe of their own.

“The plan all along was to open a cafe that would support our bread,” Alaina said. “Our menu is bread-centric. You can choose the bread you want your sandwich on. You can get a piece of bread with your soup. You can get artisan toast at breakfast.”

“There’s no milk, sugar or eggs in our bread,” she added. “There’s no chemicals, there’s no preservatives, there’s no fillers.”

For example, their cinnamon raisin bread? It has water, salt, yeast, flour and, of course, cinnamon and raisins, and that’s it.

“Most of our breads are vegan — just the way they are naturally,” Alaina said, pointing out a couple breads offered do contain cheese.

They bake 11 varieties of bread. Aside from cinnamon raisin, varieties include basic country blonde (white) and country wheat, roasted garlic and rosemary ciabatta, and seeded (containing pumpkin, flax and sunflower seeds), to name a few.

The bread is big part of Purple Carrot Bread Co., but it’s not entirely about the bread.

There are no corners cut. Doug makes the majority of what appears on the menu from scratch.

“Doug makes his own fig jam and triple-berry jam,” Alaina said. “When you order a roast turkey sandwich, it’s not deli meat, it’s smoked turkey that he roasted that morning or the night before. A lot of it’s fresh and it’s made here.”

They work on getting their ingredients from local farms whenever possible.

There’s also the soup.

During Winterfest 2018’s Richard Rourke Memorial Soup Bowl Competition, their chicken sage and sweet potato chowder took home first place in the competition’s people’s choice award and was second place among the judges.

Each day at the cafe, there’s a couple soups to chose from.

Prices are reasonable for the quality received.

“We always try to price our items as if we were on the other side of the counter,” Alaina said.

As for the cafe’s name?

“A lot of people ask that question,” Alaina said.

She wanted a quirky name, allowing it to easily be remembered. Purple is her favorite color, and there is a such a thing as a purple carrot, she points out. And so it was decided.

Aaron Curtis is designated as the nighttime emergency response reporter throughout Greater Lowell. A native of upstate New York, Aaron Curtis previously worked as a reporter for upstate daily newspapers including The Palladium-Times, based in Oswego, and The Daily Messenger, located in Canandaigua. Aaron is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego.